Silvery Willows
by finnickcubed
Summary: Delilah Willows has no idea what she's doing with her life, but she knows she doesn't want anything to do with the Gryffindor Quidditch team - or its captain. Or the attention its captain gets. Really, she could do without James Sirius Potter bugging her altogether. But where would be the fun in that? Next Gen, James S.P./OC, background Rose/Scorpius.
1. Chapter 1

**Content Warning: Mentions of suicide. The OC is not suicidal, nor does it play a huge part in the story, but her parents did commit suicide.**

The First Wizarding War had made an orphan out of Harry Potter. The Second had made an orphan out of Teddy Lupin. Delilah watched him sometimes in the Great Hall when he was still at Hogwarts; he certainly wasn't hard to find, given his preference for bright blue hair. He laughed and joked and pranked and loved. He seemed normal. You would never know that his parents had died a truly tragic death, that the universe had forced yet another child to grow up without ever knowing their parents. It made Delilah jealous, even when she was only eleven years old. She didn't understand how he could do it, appear to outsiders as if everything was perfectly fine in the world.

For the Second Wizarding War had also made an orphan out of Delilah Willows. Unlike Teddy Lupin, no one besides perhaps Professor McGonagall knew this or would even be able to guess it—she was several years younger than Teddy, and had been conceived and born after the war had ended. But it would always be the war that had turned her into an orphan. Her parents, unable to handle the losses they'd suffered and the things they'd seen during the war, had left Delilah when she was just six months old. Except they hadn't just _left_. No, they'd gone and jumped off the cliff near their cottage, leaving behind a pathetic note and a crying baby, never to be seen again. Their graves were empty, she knew, their bodies never found. It had been three days before Delilah had been found in the house when the mailman had heard her screaming.

They could have at least had the decency to drop her off somewhere, she often thought. The Ministry, or even the bloody neighbors. What if no one had found her?

"Oi, Willows, are you even in there?"

The masculine voice immediately brought her mind back to the Great Hall, bursting with hundreds of voices shouting over each other, excited children and exhausted adults worrying about N.E. . It was utterly overwhelming.

She glanced across the table at Fred Weasley, who was gazing at her expectantly. "I've asked you to pass the gravy three times now."

Wordlessly, she handed it over before glancing back down at her own plate where she'd apparently only been pushing her mashed potatoes around. No one commented; though she was perfectly capable of speaking and even joking, she was far more reserved than most of her fellow Gryffindors.

James Potter, sitting next to Fred, had mentioned something about Teddy finally moving in with his girlfriend. It had sent Delilah back into her head, back to the days when she was often furious at Teddy Lupin, who she'd never spoken to, because she didn't understand why she couldn't be more like him. Of course, he was long gone now, and at sixteen, Delilah had finally resigned herself to the fact that she was always going to feel angry and desolate and lonely and was never going to be Teddy Lupin.

She blew out a puff of breath and reached for her bag underneath the table. It was far too loud and she still had an essay to finish for Care of Magical Creatures on how to handle the different breeds of winged horses. Vivienne Thomas, seated next to her, place a hand on Delilah's arm. "You're not going to finish eating?"

Delilah shook her head, ignoring the frizzy strawberry blonde curl that fell in front of her face. "Not hungry. I'm just going to head to the library."

Vivienne shrugged her thin shoulders. "Alright, see you later then. You know where my chocolate stash is if you get hungry."

Delilah gave a short laugh. Vivienne's chocolate stash was almost legendary to the sixth year Gryffindor girls. Her smile dropped when she realized James had stood up as well. "Are you doing the essay for Hagrid? I still need to finish it too."

She nodded slowly. Besides herself, only James, Roxanne Weasley, and Sean Griffin had decided to continue with Care of Magical Creatures from Gryffindor. Delilah wasn't sure why; it was by far the most interesting and fun class at Hogwarts. What could beat spending a few hours outside learning about animals instead of forcing yourself to stay awake through a droning lecture?

The two of them began walking side by side up to the library. They were sort of friends, she supposed. In the way you were friends with someone you were forced to see every single day and had been occasionally partnered with over the past five years. She wasn't sure they'd ever worked together alone on an assignment that they hadn't been assigned to work together for.

But when he opened his mouth, she realized that this had absolutely nothing to do with an essay.

"So. Quidditch tryouts are this Saturday," he said, looking straight ahead with his hands in his pockets.

"So I heard," she replied flatly.

"I'm captain."

"Yes, oddly enough, I've also heard that considering Fred shouted it the moment you two walked into the Common Room at the start of term. And, you know, the very shiny badge that's always pinned to your robes."

He glanced over at her, smiling proudly. "Why have a badge if no one's meant to see it?"

"How much time have you spent preening and polishing it?"

He avoided the question. Unsurprisingly. Delilah took that to mean that he'd actually spent quite a lot of time on that badge. "I hope you're planning to try out."

She looked up at the ceiling. "You know I'm not."

He picked up speed so that he could turn around and step right in front of her, effectively stopping their progress to the library. He flashed her a dazzling smile. "Whyever not, lovely Willows? You'd get to see me bright and early in the mornings, listen to my charming voice…"

"I already see you every day. And I hear plenty of your voice, thanks. It's not like you ever shut up."

He didn't take offence. Of course not. Riling up James Potter was not an easy task. "We need a chaser. You know that. A _good_ one. One that doesn't argue with me at every single practice."

The Gryffindor Quidditch team was good, no one could deny that. But they'd been plagued by a team of chasers that could never quite figure out how to work together just right. They'd won the cup last year, but Delilah knew that was only because they had an exceptional seeker.

"Stop trying to dazzle me, Potter. It's not happening." She stepped around him and continued walking, though she knew he would follow her.

"Well, if it's not happening then why should I stop trying to dazzle you? You don't sound so sure that you'd be able to resist."

She snorted. James Potter was as fit as they came—tall, defined muscles, beautiful hazel eyes that always sparkled, perfect skin. Delilah reckoned the skin bit annoyed her the most, as her face was covered in freckles deserving of a Weasley along with some bumps and dark spots from acne scarring. She wasn't blind, she'd always known he was fit. But so were plenty of boys at Hogwarts, and none of them were going to convince her to play Quidditch either.

James had seen her flying once in 4th year very early in the morning, tossing a quaffle around. He'd watched her long enough to realize she knew exactly what she was doing, and he'd been bugging her about it ever since.

But flying was just for her. It was a stress reliever, a way to focus her thoughts and forget while her hair tangled around her. And while she loved to watch Quidditch, she certainly had no interest in turning it into her life and having to practice every day like she knew James would want to do.

Also, she wasn't keen on bludgers flying at insane speeds straight towards her face. When she repeated this to him, James laughed. "That's why we have beaters! To keep them away!" It was the same response he always gave her.

"Tell that to the four broken arms you got last year." They'd reached the library, so she turned around to look him straight in the eye. "I will not be trying out on Saturday, Potter. Now if you'll excuse me, I really need to do this essay, and we both know what's going to happen if you keep talking about Quidditch in the library."

She spun around on her heel and made a beeline towards a table near the window. Given that it was still dinner and term had only started two weeks ago, the library was relatively empty.

Except that Potter then sat across from her, shrugging. "What? I have to finish the essay too."


	2. Chapter 2

The trouble with sharing a table with James Potter—and even occasionally asking each other questions about the essay—was that this inevitably meant sharing a table with other people. James was quite popular, and it didn't help that he was friendly to nearly everyone he met. As students began to finish dinner, some made their way to the library, including fellow Gryffindors Fred Weasley and Alayna Finnegan, along with her younger brother Ryan who was a Hufflepuff and a year below the others.

Delilah watched them all conversing for a few moments with a bit of envy; they were always so excited to speak with each other, faces lighting up. Socialization often felt like more of a chore for her if she wasn't in the right mood. And trying to finish an essay was certainly not the right mood. Nevertheless, she managed to tune them out, as she'd been doing for the past five years when the common room got a little too rowdy. Which was often. At least if she'd been sorted into Ravenclaw she'd live in a much quieter tower.

But too much silence was deafening. Too much silence made Delilah feel as if she was crawling out of her skin.

"Nah, I don't think we have to worry about Ravenclaw too much. Chang is apparently planning to focus more on studying than actually captaining his team."

Delilah glanced up at Fred. "How do you even know that?"

He turned to her with a sly grin that she felt like almost belonged in nightmares. "I hear things."

She rolled her blue-grey eyes. "You eavesdrop, you mean?"

"What an accusation, Miss Willows!" he exclaimed. She snorted before glancing around to see if he was about to get kicked out of the library for being too loud. Alas, it appeared as if he'd gotten away with it again.

Delilah knew all about how Fred came from an entire family of troublemakers. James, too, for that matter. She wasn't sure if it was a Weasley or a Potter trait, given that practically everyone in the castle seemed to have genes from at least one of the families. There were enough of them to make anyone else feel like an outsider.

"Don't act like I've offended you."

He clutched a hand to his chest. "But you have, Miss Willows! Accusing me of lurking throughout the castle, hiding in the shadows! All to overhear sacred Quidditch secrets!" No one could say Fred Weasley didn't have a flair for the dramatic.

"Yes, how dare I accuse you of doing exactly what you did." Delilah tried to use a teasing tone to show she wasn't actually angry, but had no idea whether she'd succeeded or not.

But James was looking back and forth between the two of them, a small smile growing on his face, so she figured she was probably safe from the wrath of the Weasley-Potter duo. She didn't think the three of them had ever spent an extended amount of time together without others around, but she knew what they got up to in their spare time. How they had any spare time, between classes and Quidditch, Delilah had no idea.

In truth, Delilah usually enjoyed their pranks. Most often they were harmless, and they'd never been targeted at her anyway. Walking into Potions and seeing all the Slytherins sporting neon pink hair that they couldn't get rid of had brightened her day last week considerably.

Not that she would ever tell them that.

"As lovely as this has been," she said, beginning to gather her parchment and books together, "I best get back to the tower before I end up looking guilty by association for whatever prank you two end up doing this week. I like to wait at least a month before I get a detention. Otherwise it just looks sloppy."

Both boys widened their eyes. "When have you ever gotten detention?" James asked incredulously.

She smiled her secret little smile. Most people probably thought she was quite passive—and often, she was. But sometimes her mouth got the better of her. And it could be quite a foul mouth. "Ask McGonagall. I'm sure she'd _love_ to repeat what's gotten me into detention." She spun around on her heel and left the library without another word.

It wasn't until she'd gotten back to the tower and changed into her pajamas that she realized James hadn't uttered another word about her trying out for Quidditch. She couldn't help but be grateful; she didn't need _two_ of them constantly badgering her to join the team. She especially didn't want to admit to Fred Weasley, the school's best beater, that she was terrified of a bludger flying straight towards her face. She wasn't sure if he'd laugh in her face, get offended and think she was doubting his skills, or both.

Vivienne returned to the dormitory just as Delilah was slipping into bed, a dreamy smile on her face. Delilah cocked a probably-too-bushy eyebrow at her. "What's got you so chipper?"

Vivienne hummed, her perfectly smooth dark skin seeming to gleam in the night. "Oh, nothing for you to worry about. Not yet."

Delilah couldn't _no_ t worry. Those were foreboding words indeed.

 **Sincerely sorry that the chapters are so short - I would like them to be longer but as I'm a grad student with a thesis proposal to write, this would never get updated if I only published after I'd written a chapter I think is long enough!**


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